Prince Harry thrills pupils during visit to school in Lesotho

Harry travelled to the kingdom to learn first hand about the latest developments of his charity Sentebale

A young girl holds Prince Harry's hand as he is persuaded to join in with a kneeling dance at the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf, in the Maseru district of Lesotho

Prince Harry turned a cookery class in an African school into a comedy show today - as he showed off his culinary skills.

The prince tried his hand at cooking cakes when he joined pupils in a home economics class at a deaf centre in Lesotho.

Some pupils taught the third-in-line to the throne how to say “Prince Harry” in sign language.

Harry has travelled to the kingdom to learn first hand about the latest developments of his charity Sentebale, which supports projects throughout the impoverished nation.

At the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf, close to the capital Maseru, the third-in-line to the throne was joined by Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso, who co-founded Sentebale with Harry in 2006.

The final stretch of rutted dirt road that led to the centre was lined by dozens of children from neighbouring schools who had waited in the blazing sunshine for a glimpse of the prince.

The centre is one of two schools where deaf children are taught in Lesotho, a country where disability is seen as a stigma by some parents. Others want their offspring educated and Kananelo is oversubscribed.

Harry last visited the centre in 2004 during his gap year before his Army training began.

Sentebale gives grants to the centre which fund around 70% of its running costs and has been supporting the school since 2008.

Inside the centre’s single-storey kitchen the princes were given aprons – a Paddington Bear-themed one for Harry, with Seeiso donning a feminine white one.

The pair are firm friends as Seeiso was Harry’s guide during his gap year visit and they kept up jokey banter throughout.

First up the princes tried their hands at making fat cakes – a kind of doughnut – known in the local Sesotho language as makoenya.

Harry turned and counted the number of media in the room, and when the cakes were ready one of the pupils handed them around.

When one of the media shouted they were a bit burnt, the Harry laughed and pointed to Seeiso.

Harry’s verdict on the cakes was “great” as he took a bite then fanned his mouth as the sweet treats were hot.

The two Princes kept up their comedy double act when they toured some classrooms.

In one, the pair sat down on benches next to a blackboard as children sat in rows watching them.

At one point seven-year-old Limpho Nokoane began to cry because he could not see the royal guests, and he was lifted from the back of the classroom to sit on Prince Seeiso’s knee.

Two little girls gave a demonstration of sign language for the two men but when one was asked to teach Harry a few signs she signed “No” and ran away.

Older new recruits were drafted in and the teenage girls began teaching Harry how to say in sign language a welcome message written on the classroom blackboard - “We Love Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso”.

Harry was taught the words for “sister”, “mother” and “father” and was corrected by the pupil who pulled and pushed his fingers, then gave him the task of writing the words on the board as she signed them.

“You’re just guessing,” Seeiso heckled but when Harry got a word right the pupils clapped.